Titan King: Ascension of the Giant
Chapter 707 - 707: Death spider

"For the Horde! For the Lord!"

"For Master! For Lorelia! Charge! Charge! Charge!"

On the forest battlefield, a clear cry rang out. It was Lorelia, crossbow raised, urging her kinsfolk to charge relentlessly forward.

Lorelia's small face was flushed, radiating excitement.

However, the young girl wasn't excited by the battle itself, but rather by the thrill of shouting encouragement.

Unlike Dirtclaw, who, despite also enjoying riling up his subordinates and cannon fodder, always led the charge into the fray himself.

As for Lorelia, she was surrounded by four powerful spider guards; charging was out of the question—she had no intention of even joining the battle.

Furthermore, not far from Lorelia stood a calm-faced Vexis.

Lorelia had her own agenda; she never strayed far from Vexis's line of sight.

Lorelia was merely enjoying the thrill of shouting commands.

Meanwhile, deeper in Gloomwood Forest, various skirmishes were constantly erupting.

Gnawing, tearing, biting, and grappling—in battles between beasts, these were all too natural.

The losing side, in the vast majority of cases, would become the other's food.

With cave spiders giving chase on the ground and wyverns circling covetously from above, the dark fiends in the forest were plunged into despair.

From time to time, small groups of dark fiends would rally to counter-attack the invaders, but their assaults were quickly swallowed by the tide of cave spiders.

At the very front line of the battlefield, on a patch of flat ground, Thundar, mounted on a dark fiend and leading a troop of cavalry, had a group of dark fiends completely surrounded.

Ignoring the dark fiends' furious roars, Thundar, his face cold and indifferent, slowly raised the greatsword in his hand and gave the order to annihilate them.

Howls and roars echoed, a cacophony of rage and pain. Many dark fiends couldn't understand why the dark fiend Thundar rode would lead enemies to slaughter its own kin.

Swish, swish—bolts flew out; these were the Stoneheart Horde's unique enchanted arrows, imbued with magical effects.

These enchanted arrows were crafted by the Garland Tribe and the serpentfolk. Though designed for production in numbers, their quantity was limited as each was handmade.

After a few volleys, dark fiends died one after another, or were paralyzed by the petrification spell on the bolts.

Those who didn't die merely awaited the cavalry regiment's finishing blows.

"Elder, we're running low on enchanted arrows!"

"Hmm, from now on, we will only be responsible for surrounding them. Leave the task of killing the dark fiends to those cave spiders and wyverns."

Both cave spiders and wyverns could attack with venom. Although dark fiends were largely immune to physical attacks, they were not immune to venom.

Moreover, their venom was potent; any dark fiend poisoned would essentially be paralyzed on the spot, unable to move, eventually becoming food for the young spiders.

"Commander, Elder Dirtclaw and Elder Fergus are in trouble! They've been surrounded and are under attack!"

Just as Thundar was observing his subordinates deliver the finishing blows to this group of dark fiends, a member of the cavalry regiment charged out from the forest ahead, seeking reinforcements.

"Which direction are they in?"

"In the dense forest about a mile ahead."

"Leave some men behind. The rest of you, with me, to reinforce them!"

Thundar called out. The dark fiend beneath him let out a low roar and was the first to charge into the dense forest.

Dirtclaw and Fergus had charged too aggressively; they were the first wave of combatants to rush out, and also the fastest.

It was hardly surprising for them to be surrounded by a swarm of dark fiends after becoming separated from the main force.

To survive, the best tactic for the dark fiends was to split off a portion of their forces to entangle, or even kill, the pursuing enemy—and that's exactly what the dark fiends had chosen to do.

Dirtclaw and Fergus found themselves caught in the trap laid by the dark fiend horde.

"Hehe, Bro, what do you think of the wyverns I brought?"

Above the forest, after killing the dark fiend lord, Orion and Leonidas stood high in the air, surveying the battles unfolding within and around Gloomwood Forest.

To prevent the dark fiend clans from escaping, Leonidas had specifically mobilized a group of wyverns to circle around to their front, herding back those dark fiends scattering in all directions.

This way, these dark fiends would ultimately fall prey to the invading cave spiders.

"Very agile, highly mobile, and very obedient."

Orion had a high opinion of the wyvern armies. Only these intelligent drakes could accomplish tasks requiring such flexibility.

Unlike the Aarakocra converted by Vexis, which could only execute simple, rigid commands, such as mindlessly attacking the enemy.

Furthermore, if they moved out of Vexis's control range, those Aarakocra would fall into chaos and attack indiscriminately.

This was one of the few drawbacks of undead summoning: separated from Vexis, who acted as their soul core, their combat effectiveness would be greatly diminished.

"Your little spiders are pretty effective too," Leonidas remarked. "Their individual combat power isn't much, but their strength lies in their numbers."

"With Lich Vexis coordinating them, they're practically unstoppable."

Orion smiled without speaking. This combat style had first taken shape when he was helping Arthas and Leonidas invade the Godforsaken Land.

Arthas had a very sharp eye; upon seeing the troops Orion had brought, he immediately dispatched Skeleton General Rumbold to assist.

In subsequent battles, Orion relied on this combat style to sweep through various territories.

It had to be said, by this point in their development, Orion's invading armies had become inseparable from Arthas's undead forces.

It was also because of this that Orion deeply understood why individuals like Leonidas, Alexander, Arthas, and Kraken had come together.

Only by coordinating armies of various types and different styles could one avoid being easily countered and potentially create even more powerful invading forces.

The combination of different troop types was an art.

As long as one had enough diverse troop types, one could assemble mixed forces adaptable to various environments, ensuring the army's combat effectiveness and survival rate.

"I'm planning to convert all these cave spiders into death spiders. What do you think?"

Orion voiced his plans for the cave spider armies. The death and dark auras in the Emerald Dream Realm were very dense, well-suited for cave spiders.

If the cave spiders were converted into death spiders, their talents and strength would be enhanced, and their overall combat power would increase significantly.

Leonidas's judgment and experience were undoubtedly superior to Orion's; by mentioning it now, Orion was seeking Leonidas's opinion.

"Bro, you want to build an army similar to the undead?"

"Well, I can't always rely on Arthas. Vexis and Rumbold can't possibly assist me indefinitely; they'll have to return to their own affairs eventually."

"That makes sense!"

Leonidas strongly agreed with Orion's line of thinking.

Because Leonidas himself had once had similar ideas, though his solution had differed from Orion's.